'08 Sirius Install

[Roberte]

Per my welcome thread, I'm going to take the time to share my Sirius installation into our '08 CRV...

Since we bought the EX model w/o NAV, our research told us that the factory radio is not XM capable. On that note, we purchased an EX-L radio off of ebay as the basis of our installation. We did this because we wanted the truck to have as close to a factory look inside and be able to keep the steering wheel controls. Here's where we started...



First thing to do is to pull fuse #34. This fuse is the first one located on the top row... Sorry about the fuzzy pic, you can just see it on this pic.



Best way I found to get it out was using a curved needle nose pliers....

Next up is to start with the very top panel. There's a notch in the middile of the panel that you can put a small screw driver in.. use a soft rag to pry against so you dont damage the panel. Lift it up and place a larger screwdiver in it's place. Remove the smaller screwdriver and start moving to the side repeating the process. Eventually you'll get to the end where the clip is located, it should pop up on its own.


Lift off that panel and start on the vents. Grab it directly in the back and pull toward you. It should pop out of its holder. Remove the wire that serves the hazard lights.



The top two screws on the radio are exposed. Remove them.

[Roberte]

Next up is the climate control. There's a notch on either side of the controls. Use a small screwdriver in the slot and use another screwdriver as a leverage tool to pry against. That way you won't have any damage to your dash..



I found that if you take the car out of park, you can rotate the climate control assembly out of your way. Put the vehicle back in park for safety (and to kill that silly chime).



Remove the two screws from the bottom of the radio and pull it straight out. It may take a little effort, but it's really only held in by 4 posts..



Remove the wiring from the back and remove the rest of the way.

Now for those of you with EX -Ls, you will be putting the same radio back in. All you're going to be doing is adding a wire.

Next up is the removal of the glove compartment. Two screws on the bottom and it should come right out.

[Roberte]

Lots of room to run the controller wire from the back of the radio to the Sirius controller.

Take the kick panel off at this time too. You have to start with the threshhold panel first. Pull it straight up and it pops off. Pull the kick panel towards the center of the vehicle and it pops off too.



The antenna was next. Since my wife seems to like using Washtub for her vehicles, we decided on an interior mounting location for the antenna. It's fairly small and unobtrusive (unlike the first gen trunk mount that I have on my car) so we went ahead and placed it on the dash... A little double sided tape and viola!!! Mounted!!



We ran the wire on the front side of the dash and its barely visible.

We wired up the HonSC1 controller/Sirius Radio SCC1 and put in the EX-L radio along with the controller wire. The dipswitches on the controller were put on "Scroll" and "16 Characters".



To keep from having to tear things back apart, this is the point where we backed the vehicle out in preparation of the activation process. Of course we had to enter the security code for the new radio and SID for the Sirius radio ready.



Sucess!! Activation of the new radio was completed, so back into the garage to finish the installation.

Finish mounting the controller and Sirius radio.



Be careful how you mount it so that the holes for tabs on the kick panel clear the wires...This clears, but barely!!

[Roberte]

Put everything back together and enjoy...

Here's proof of our effort.


All the factory controls work like they should.

My only question is that the original radio had the same connection on the back as did the XM radio....In the EX, that connection is not used. Hmmm, it might be worth someone's effort to try and use the original radio even though the kit says radios w/ XM/ SAT only.

Overall, the installation was fairly straight forward. No "special" tools were required, just a little patience. I would say that the average user should be able to complete this install in a couple of hours. (If you're wondering where the time display is, it was flashing during this pic and I simply caught it on an "off" cycle... it displays correctly now that it's set)

Hope this helps....

[Black Pearl]

While I have no interest in satellite radio myself, I commend you on an excellent tutorial that hopefully will be helpful to others. Very well done!

[X-Brawn]

Wow. THANK YOU! I've been wanting to take apart my dash to do an external GPS installation but do some comments made by a frequent passenger I may not be getting one...

[exMustangGirl]

Absolutely amazing post!!! Thank you so much for posting this, and with great photos! I wonder if I am that brave to start tearing into the dash!? Will you install mine!? hehe! j.k.

Thanks again!

[cbnsoul]

Roberte, I had a couple questions for you too. I am looking to do the same installation on my LX with an EX-L radio and was wondering where you found to pull the fuse in step 1. I have had the radio in for awhile now with no problems with the fuse in place. Also how did you manage to fit the antenna connector from the top to inside the dash? Is it so small you can just push it between the dash and windshield? Thanks.

[Roberte]

Originally Posted by cbnsoul

Roberte, I had a couple questions for you too. I am looking to do the same installation on my LX with an EX-L radio and was wondering where you found to pull the fuse in step 1. I have had the radio in for awhile now with no problems with the fuse in place. Also how did you manage to fit the antenna connector from the top to inside the dash? Is it so small you can just push it between the dash and windshield? Thanks.

Oops, sorry for taking so long to answer. The fuse box is located under the dash on the driver's side. As far as actually removing the fuse, I used a small curved needle nose pliers. A curve hemostat would work equally well too. Regarding your second question, the wire for the antenna is a small enough gauge that it fits easily between the dash and the windshield/A piller.